Just Like Wildcats
by Orcinus234
Summary: Thundera has fallen, and young Lion-o has been dubbed king of the thundercats. Joined by his brother and friends, he will journey far and wide to protect Third Earth. Age swap AU. with adjustments to the story of the 2011 version.


Lion-o looks around him. The morning sun shines down on the ruins that were prosperous only yesterday. Pillars of smoke still rise and flickers of fires could still be seen burning in what were once stores, pubs, schools and homes. The weight of the Sword of Omens and it's gauntlet feels heavy. He has only started wearing it last night after all, but walking past the broken buildings and craters on the ground makes it feel like it's only falling closer and closer to the ground. He wants to just curl up in a ball and cry… but he can't. With his father dead and his brother Tygra still not being reigned in as the leader, and Jaga pronouncing him Lord of the Thundercats before his own death to save them, Lion-o has a mission, a task to do. He has to kill Mumm-ra, for his people and for his fallen father, even if he is only 10 years old.

He had tried to convince Tygra, Cheetara and Snarf to leave it to him, but they wouldn't budge from their decision. Tygra is a better fighter, still learning but much better than him. Cheetara was in training to be Cleric. Obviously, she has skill. Snarf… is Snarf.

Lion-o will kill Mumm-ra, even if it's the last thing he ever does.

He manages to keep his head held high, his face set in a determined scowl. Tygra and Cheetara are behind him and Snarf is walking to his left. The three of them have brown cloaks on their shoulders, but Cheetara is the only one who has her hood up. Snarf is unusually quiet and serious, and neither Tygra or Cheetara have tried to start a conversation, which Lion-o is glad for. Because of their silence, he can hear the crunch of the rubble under their feet.

As they walk through the cracked gate and across the make shift bridge of plank wood and the fallen figures of the giant tech monsters, the three of them eye the giant tech and bodies of soldiers from both sides warily.

Tygra makes a surprised sound and steps up to Lion-o, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Lion-o is about to argue with him, but when he looks at his brother, he sees him put a finger up to his lips then point to the left side of the path up ahead. In a giant heap of tech monster parts, there are sounds of someone rummaging through it. They all know better than to just walk by, it could be a lizard for all they know, looking for a friend or something else. They continue walking slowly and stealthily. They each take a firm grip on their weapons. The Sword of Omens extends in length when it is released from the gauntlet. They are just upon it when they see fluffy white fur sway into sight. It's a cat's tail. A thundarian tail. Lion-o sheathes his sword, Tygra and Cheetara releasing theirs as well. Not seeing a reason to make more cats tag along on their dangerous mission as well as not wanting to delay the journey, Lion-o aims to only walk by them… Tygra has other ideas.

"Hey!"

The tail stops and shortly after, the head of a young adult female cat pokes out from around the rubble. She has reddish hair with a line of purple down the center. Her hair goes down to just above her shoulders and while her hair is as messy as it is, Lion-o can see the two tuffs on either side of her head that are big red cat ears. She doesn't look like any big cats, nor house or alley cats, probably being a wild cat.

At this point, after walking some distance towards the pile, they round a giant piece of tech and are standing right next to her. She stands at just under twice their height. She has skinny black leggings that also loop under the soles of her feet. On her waist is a dark purple utility belt with pink armor plates that make it look like she's wearing a skirt. She has shin guards of the same colors, one of each. She has an armor chest plate of the same colors with only the right shoulder guard still attached, the left one gone. Under her chest armor is a black cropped skin tight shirt with only a strap above the left shoulder and the right arm completely covered ending under the fingerless armor glove that she only has on her right hand. The only thing on her left arm is a silver band on her bicep.

There, as it turns out, is someone else behind the tech. Another cat with a similar fluffy white tail. **(His clothing is the same. I just wanted to change Wilykit's clothing. It just didn't sit right with me completely.)** He looks to be the same age as the female cat. The two of them look at the four seemingly surprised yet… unimpressed.

Lion-o tries to keep walking, to ignore the two of them because they are irrelevant to the mission. But Tygra gets a firm grip on his shoulder, and as much as he tries to keep moving, he can't.

"Huh," says the female. "We thought we were the only cats left."

She has a nice smile on her face. A very pretty face, Lion-o silently admits, only to inwardly scowl at himself. Something like relief shows in her eyes.

"I guess we can't be too surprised that some big cat cubs survived this mess," says the male cat, who simply throws a piece of scrap away, looking away from the cubs with a look of disinterest.

If these cats want them to go away, Lion-o has no problem going. But it seems like his travel buddies think that these two need to join them.

"My name is Tygra, and this is my younger brother Lion-o and our friends Cheetara and Snarf."

"Wilykit, and that's Wilykat."

The male, Wilykat, moves to a different portion of the pile of junk to rummage through it.

"We're on a mission right now," Cheetara says. "We could really use some adults in our group and …"

"Look elsewhere," Wilykat says without looking at them. "We're not interested in playing babysitters. Besides… we're on our own mission."

"Maybe we can work together to help each other out. We're going to find the book of Om…" says Tygra before he is cut off by Lion-o who is done with this unnecessary conversation and what Tygra and Cheetara are trying to do.

"No! We are going to avenge our father! We don't need babysitters!" Lion-o says sternly as he violently turns to face his brother. "I am going to kill Mumm-ra!"

He hears Wilykat scoff and rounds on him.

"You dare laugh at me?! I am Lion-o, Lord of the Thundercats!"

"A crown doesn't make a King," says Wilykat.

"Or lack thereof," adds Wilykit with a teasing grin.

Lion-o seethes and lets out his best growl, but seeing that he is still only a cub, it isn't as threatening as he would hope. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his brother and Cheetara just standing there, not seeming bothered in the least by the two adults' words.

"The great sorcerer Jaga and leader of the Clerics," Lion-o can see Cheetara flinch at the use of her mentor's name, but can't bring himself to care. "Named me King of the thundercats just before he gave his life to save us. He entrusted the Sword of Omens to me!"

"Would I be correct in assuming that his last words were to tell you to find the Book of Omens?" asks Wilykit.

She crosses her arms and gives Lion-o a raised eyebrow. Lion-o clamps his mouth shut, still glaring daggers at the female cat.

"If you're so desperate to hand the Sword of Omens over to Mumm-ra," Wilykat says, looking over his shoulder with a dangerous look in his fiery golden eyes that make Lion-o freeze. "And get yourself, your brother and your friend here killed… then we won't stop you."

When Wilykat finally looks away, Lion-o feels all the air go back into his lungs. Even after the short time he found himself paralyzed, he wasn't ready to back down.

"I'm not handing over the Sword of Omens, I'm going to kill Mumm-ra…"

"With that attitude," Wilykit interrupts. "You're practically begging Mumm-ra to take the sword."

Lion-o growls once more. At a loss for words, he storms off. Tygra and Cheetara watch as Lion-o quickly walks away and as Snarf tries to keep up with him. Cheetara looks up at Wilykit who has a look of what appears to be sorrow, but it is mostly masked.

"How did you know that Jaga wanted us to look for the Book of Omens?" she asks her.

Wilykit turns to look at her, the same expression on her face.

"We never met him, but we have heard how he was very much against acts of revenge. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he didn't tell our king-wanna-be to get revenge on Mumm-ra."

The two younger cats look at each other, then turn back to the older cats. At this point, Wilykat is done rummaging and is packing up a big satchel before he throws it over his shoulder.

"You know," Tygra says. "Lion-o was telling the truth when he said that he had been dubbed King."

"Then he better start acting like one," Wilykat says as he walks up to his sister with the satchel secured to his person.

"You've only known him for a few minutes," Tygra points out.

"And his first order is to help Mumm-ra out by guaranteeing the extinction of his own species and handing over the Sword of Omens."

Tygra doesn't argue with that, he knows what Wilykat is saying is true.

"Then can you help him be a true king? Or at least help us get him on the right track?" Cheetara pleads.

"Not babysitting," Wilykat reminds them.

"You don't have to actually babysit us… just stay with us. At least until Lion-o realizes the direction he needs to go is not towards Mumm-ra's lair."

"Still sounds…" Wilykat starts, before his sister elbows him.

"We don't exactly know where were going. And we might as well make sure he doesn't get all of Third Earth destroyed," she offers.

Wilykat stares at her for a while. She stares back. He seems to give up and sighs before facing the younger cats.

"Fine…"

Tygra and Cheetara smiled brightly at them.

"But only until we get to where we're going," he says, pointing at himself and his sister.

"Okay," the younger cats eagerly agree.

Soon enough, the four were walking after their small king. Lion-o had slowed down when he realized that his brother and Cheetara weren't following him. When he looks over his shoulder only to see that the two older cats are following right behind the other two younger cats, he scowls, eyebrows scrunching up in anger.

"We're not following you," Wilykat says, leveling Lion-o with an unimpressed glare.

"You're just walking in front of us," Wilykit adds as she catches up to the lion cub.

Lion-o keeps his mouth shut. He turns to face ahead, not wanting to look at the infuriating wildcats… and so that they can't see his tiny blush. Why does Wilykit have to have such a pretty smile on her pretty face? So what if they follow them, that doesn't mean anything to him, he'll just ignore them.

And so they walk.


End file.
